


Selling Blood On The Internet And Becoming Friends With Vampires 101

by Fox_155



Series: NosferaCT - A Symphony Of Chaos (NCT Vampire AU) [9]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Asexual Character, Childhood, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Lucas is the opposite of subtle, M/M, Sicheng is a confused babysitter, a bit of stealing, a bit of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 22:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17712761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: The backstory of how Moon Taeil came to sell stolen blood bags for vampires on the internet to find the mysterious man that had saved his life when he was only six.





	Selling Blood On The Internet And Becoming Friends With Vampires 101

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of the people and this story isn't by any means an accurate representation of the people by whom it is inspired by.
> 
> This is set in Seoul, South Korea, in the year 2000, 2015, and 2018, but with some creative freedom. I'm not using honorifics, because it'd get super-messy with all the vampires. Since this is in English, I also don't think they're actually needed. :)
> 
> This is part of a series and probably makes more sense if you read it together with the rest. If you’re interested in the whole thing please check the series for the timeline, if you only want to read a little I recommend [Four Is My Lucky Number](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15185717/chapters/35217482) to read after this. ^^

His mom had told him to go straight back home. And Taeil had meant to but… there had been this kitten that had tried to run when he wanted to pet it, so he had followed it in an attempt to still get his hands on it, but it had skipped through the narrow backstreets behind the houses.

And now, he was lost.

Without a single clue where he was.

He had realised he was lost just a few minutes ago, when instead of reaching the playground where he had started to chase the cat, he had ended in a dead end between three houses. He had thought he knew which way to use to get back – but apparently not.

Other kids might start to cry, panic. But Taeil just wrinkled his nose and looked around. That was weird! He had been so sure he took the same way back he had come from? Had he turned wrong?

Taeil adjusted his schoolbag on his back and turned back around. He’d just check the other ways. It wasn’t even that scary, there were lots of streetlights illuminating the pavement and many windows were lit up, speaking of families working inside the houses. Maybe they were having dinner? Maybe they were watching tv, or playing games? Taeil felt his tummy grumble. 

He should have been home by now. He pulled up the sleeve of his windbreaker and squinted at his watch. It was new and very, very cool. His grandpa had given it to him for his sixth birthday not too long ago. All his friends had told him how awesome it was and Taeil was extremely proud of it. Only reading it still came with some difficulty. 

The small hand was just behind the eight, so Taeil concluded it was something past eight. His piano lesson had ended at 7:30, so his mom might start to worry now… He didn’t want her to worry, she was always so stressed already. 

He huffed to himself, hooked his hands into the straps of his bag, and marched on with more confidence. He’d figure out how to get home, totally!

So, he went back from where had had come. 

Or… thought… he…. had come? 

Because suddenly, the houses started to look all different and there were tables on the street on which people were drinking and eating. Taeil looked around in confusion. This wasn’t the playground!

He’d just ask someone then. Surely, the people here would know where the playground was, they were adults after all. Adults knew stuff.

“Excuse me, sir.” Taeil stepped to the closest table and used his most formal way of speaking. A guy turned to him. He was middle aged, like his teacher in school, but his dress-shirt was unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up, his face flushed. 

He was probably catching a cold! His mom always reminded him to keep his jacket on, because April seemed warm, but wasn’t yet. 

“Do you know where the playground is?” Taeil asked just as politely. Booming laughter erupted on the table and the boy eyed the men in confusion. What were they laughing over? Had he said something wrong?

“Are you lost, little one?” the closest one asked and Taeil quickly nodded in confirmation. 

“Well, playground…” another one cut in and Taeil listened carefully “How about you try the one down two streets?” more laughter. 

“Down two streets? Which direction please?” Taeil asked. He had been right, these adults totally knew where the playground was!

“Just head over there, turn left into the second side-street.” Someone explained.

“Thank you very much, sir.” Taeil bowed quickly still confused why the men seemed to find everything so funny that some were gasping for air now. Anyway, he needed to get home and their description had been easy enough to follow, so Taeil went the way he had been told to.

 

Only… the second side-street on his left was… scary. There were no lights and it sounded like there were dogs fighting further down. Taeil wasn’t easily scared, so his friends always said. So, he shouldn’t be scared of a street, right? And the men had said the playground was down here, so he had to be strong. A big boy!

With that in mind, he bravely stepped into the lurking shadows. He’d just be super quick. And then, he’d be back at the playground. Easy! From there, he’d find his way back home without problem.

Taeil tried to walk quickly, almost running, but it got hard to see as the streetlamps were left farther and farther behind. 

The growling of the dogs got louder. Taeil slowed down his pace more. Surely there wouldn’t be any free dogs, right? HE suddenly tripped over something on the ground and smashed face first into the concrete. His forehead stung badly and his hands flared up in pain. He couldn’t hold the sob that bubbled from his chest. It hurt! He wanted to go home! He wanted his mom to kiss it better!

But no one came, as hot tears rolled down his cheeks and he wailed by himself. 

Suddenly, something barked right in front of him and Taeil blinked past the tears into the darkness of the street. The outlines of two huge dogs were in front of him, the panting from the massive animals loud and close. 

Taeil started scooting backwards. He liked dogs, normally he did, but these ones? One of them snapped his teeth towards Taeil and the boy gave in to his instincts and scrambled off the ground to run. 

However, the dogs were giving chase, and Taeil felt more tears run down his cheeks as he pushed himself ahead, out of the dark street to where streetlamps were glowing. His breath was coming in huffs lungs already starting to burn from the strain. The barking behind him was relentless and Taeil looked over his shoulder to see how close they were getting, not watching where he went. He didn’t care, he just needed to get away. If he was dead, his mom would be sad!

“Watch out!” Someone called and a car honked. Taeil’s head snapped the direction where the noise had come from and saw a car coming towards him. How had he gotten onto the street? You should look both ways before crossing the street! 

But Taeil couldn’t move. He saw the car come closer like time was slowed down, but his body just moved forward, directly in front of it, his brain not able to react quickly enough to turn around and get to safety. Taeil wondered if this was it? His mom had explained how death worked, when his dad had died not long ago. But Taeil thought death was for old people. Not for him?

Then someone grabbed him and pulled him away, so quickly all surroundings blurred into one.

Taeil screamed and clutched onto the arm around his middle.

But just as quickly as it had started, it ended, the world back to normal speed around him. The arm around him loosened and Taeil slumped onto the ground, the shock making his body slack. Tears were streaming down his face and he uncontrollably cried, sobbing loudly. 

“Oh… oh no… stop crying little human. There, there.” Deep voice soothed and Taeil felt a pat on his head, but he couldn’t stop.

“It’s… it’s fine. Everything is fine.”

“No.” Taeil wailed back.

“No? Uh… What’s wrong then?”

Taeil blinked through his tears and looked around. “The-the dogs? The-the taxi?” His voice was shaky and thin.

“Dogs? What dogs?” the stranger asked and looked around, too.

“There were dogs, super mean dogs.” Taeil sniffled “They chased me. It was so scary. And then there was a taxi.” he rubbed his cheeks, drying tears off it.

“Yes, that’s true, you ran in front of a taxi, little human. You shouldn’t do that.”

“I… I know.” Taeil bit his lip. “But how did you save me? Are you… are you superman?” he carefully scanned the stranger. He looked nothing like Clark Kent. He was young, with long black hair tied in his neck. One of his ears was pointed. And he wasn’t ripping with muscle.

“Who’s Superman?” 

“Uh… he’s very strong and stuff. He can fly. And he’s from another planet. Are you from another planet?”

“Another planet? No. I’m a vampire.” The stranger explained. Taeil nodded slowly, his mouth forming an o. That made sense.

“Have you been a vampire for longer, sir?”

“A few years. Are you feeling better now?”

Taeil nodded. He did feel better.

“Good, so… where’s your parents?”

“I… I got lost.” Taeil admitted “I just wanted to pet a cat and now…” he sniffled loudly “My mom’s probably worried.” More tears started running down his cheeks and Taeil stubbornly tried to pad them dry.

“Oh.” The vampire stranger looked just as upset as he was and went back to patting his head. Taeil was a bit confused by that. He wasn’t a dog! But the stranger seemed quite funny in his manners. Maybe vampires did this to comfort others? “Where do you live?”

“I was supposed to go home from the playground.”

“How about we find the playground, hm?”

Taeil looked up.

“Really?”

“Well, yes. You should get home.”

Taeil held up his hand and the stranger stared at it in confusion.

“Can you help me up, sir?”

The man took his hand and pulled him up but used too much strength and Taeil flew off the floor and into his arms with a scream. He held onto the man, who easily caught him.

“You’re really strong!” Taeil whispered in awe, pulling back a little to see the stranger’s face. He looked utterly confused, staring at Taeil like he had never seen a child before.

“I… I guess? So, uh, the playground?”

“Yes.” Taeil nodded and made himself more comfortable on the vampire’s arms who seemed even more confused but didn’t try to set him down. 

 

Even now, 15 years later, Taeil still remembered that. 

Was it silly to believe in vampires?

Maybe.

Was he still sure that man who had saved his life back then had been one?

Yes. Because there was no other explanation for his speed, strength, and the lack of a heartbeat. 

Being a now fully trained nurse made it quite clear as to why the heartbeat was really, definitely, without doubt necessary for a human to live. But he had been pressed to the vampire for about half an hour as he carried him through the neighbourhood and never felt one. 

The thought that he had never properly thanked the man after they had finally found that playground, because he was just eager to go home as quick as possible, still haunted him to this day. He had only been six, but his manners should have been better.

But that feeling of having missed the chance to thank his saviour was, what made his mind race, when he stepped into the cooling room and saw the stacks and stacks of blood bags that had come from the donation centre, waiting to be sorted by type and date. 

He knew they were sometimes short certain types, especially 0, but he also knew they were often throwing out blood by the litre that’d turn bad and was no longer safe to use on patients. 

Taeil frowned and looked around. There was no security here. Because who’d steal blood. Right? What a… ridiculous idea… to steal blood and sell it in the hope of finding a vampire…

 

Taeil jerked, when his phone rang. Hardly anyone ever called him. It wasn’t that he didn’t have friends – he had a few friends – but they texted him.

However, these days his phone had rung regularly. There had been people asking him to join their conspiracy theory clubs, some making jokes before ending the call before Taeil would even say a single word, and countless others, but no actual vampires. Maybe he should have worded his offer a bit differently? But if there were any insider code words vampires used, Taeil hadn’t had any luck trying to look them up.

Taeil sighed and answered the call. If this was another joke, he’d take the offer down.

“Hello?”

“Hi! Are you the dude who’s selling blood on Naver?” someone hollered into the phone. Taeil quickly turned down the volume of the other party.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Dope man! See, I told you it was real!” there was someone speaking in the background, but Taeil didn’t understand him. “Jaehyun’s telling me to ask you why you’re doing this and where you’re getting it from. What? Or sorry, please forget Jaehyun’s name, I was supposed to keep anonymity.”

Taeil felt his eyebrows raising. Was this another joke? The question was reasonable, but the execution?

“Uh, I get it from the hospital, it’s donated blood that’s close to expiring.”

The guy on the line repeated what he had said to presumably Jaehyun. 

“Sounds awesome. Why though? You a vampire, too?”

“Uh. No. I’m not. I’m actually looking for a vampire.”

“Oh. Really? Who? Maybe I know them?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know his name. Are you interested in buying any?”

“Yes, yes, we totally are.” Someone spoke in the back again. “Well, Kun doesn’t have to ever know, chill man, this is great, think how much easier this is!” he didn’t seem to be addressing Taeil now. Maybe he should choose a neutral ground very, very far from his flat. Taeil didn’t feel too comfortable inviting this stranger to his home. Inviting people from the internet generally didn’t seem like a safe idea. But this one in particular felt a bit… too unpredictable.

 

So, they met at Paris Baguette instead. Neutral grounds in Myeongdong. You didn’t get any more anonymous than this. 

Taeil was looking for two people with a rainbow coloured umbrella. Since they were going to come together, he had to make sure he had the advantage of recognising them rather than the other way around. A rainbow umbrella would be unique enough to stick out with two guys, but not too exotic to raise suspicion. 

Taeil had just checked the time on his phone, when he spotted them.

And almost fell over backwards.

Could they be any less subtle? 

He had figured vampires were trying to keep their secret and stuff, but there were two tall men waltzing towards him, both dressed to the 10s, that had some of the shopping tourists pull out their phones to snap quick pictures. Oh, and the taller of them was swinging a rainbow umbrella. 

At least it was closed. Taeil suddenly wouldn’t even have been surprised if they had decided to carry it around open.

He sighed and prepared himself to talk to the two models and hope not to make an ass of himself. If it turned out not to be them… wow, that’d be quite the experience, Taeil was not here for that.

The two stopped on the other side of the café from where he was, so he hurried over to get their attention.

“Excuse me? Are you here to buy something?” Taeil asked and carefully shook his bag a little.

Two pairs of eyes caught on it and he saw a nose twitch. Then those eyes were on him and Taeil felt a bit like Mowgli in the wraps of Kaa.

“I think we are.” The taller beamed and the intimidating look was replaced by a bright one. 

“Hold it.” The other put a hand to his chest to hold him back and stepped towards Taeil. “First, I want to know this is legit and you aren’t some Hunter.”

“Hunter?”

“Yes, it’s the most obvious trap, which is why I don’t think you are one. But still.”

“Uh… I don’t think I quite follow?” Taeil asked. What was a Hunter… oh! Vampire Hunter? Those were a thing?

“Police department Four.” Oh! Oh, yes, they had also contacted Taeil, but he had effectively gotten rid of them by assuring he was totally the legit owner of all the blood. They didn’t seem too intent on doing great research, it seemed. “Anyway, if you aren’t, you should be comfortable with me checking you for weapons quickly?” he raised an eyebrow. 

Taeil shrugged and found himself backed into the corner, the other presumed vampire blocking the view a little, while the man hurriedly patted his torso down, then his legs. 

“Okay. Thanks. You can never be too careful.” He smiled, revealing deep dimples. “I’m Jaehyun, by the way. And you really are looking for someone? That’s why you do this?”

“Yeah, kinda. I mean, I don’t know how you operate, but I figured it’d be a good way to attract the attention of a vampire?”

“It is. Blood-sellers are super rare, they’re a hassle to get on the list, too.” Jaehyun confirmed.

“It’s kind of hilarious to thing you aren’t involved at all.” The other laughed. He looked quite a lot cuter laughing as well. 

“Well, not really, but… I don’t know, if you need blood, I could keep selling it to you.”

There was a moment of silence during which the two interchanged looks.

“Though I want proof you’re actually vampires and not joking, too. Gave I have your wrists?” Taeil ordered and held a hand out. The taller was faster to comply and Taeil pressed two fingers down on his pulse point, but there was no heartbeat. 

“Like, are you sure you wanna keep doing this? Dude, that’d be crazy nice!” The taller was getting a bit louder with every words, waving his arms in excitement. 

“Lucas, don’t attract attention.” Jaehyun tried to calm him down but seemed very pleased by the turn of events as well. “We’d be very glad to keep buying from you, if it’s possible for you without getting into trouble. Let us help you look for the vampire you’re searching for in return? We have a few more coven members, maybe someone knows him or meets him if we keep our eyes open. What’s your name, by the way?”

“Uh, Taeil.”

 

So, that was how Taeil became friends with the first coven of vampires he knew. Once, they asked him why he wasn’t scared of them. To Taeil, someone who saved a child, carried it around Seoul, and made sure they got back safe and sound couldn’t be that bad a person. But looking at the dorky bunch, Taeil only found his peaceful mindset towards them perfectly justified.

Too bad they didn’t know a tall, young looking vampire with long black hair and one pointed ear. And no one fitting that description ever tried to charm their way onto his “blood list”. It proved to be, indeed, very popular to have a seller for bagged blood for modern vampires, but there was only so much he could steal from the hospital without anyone raising suspicion.

But vampires did many things to try and change his mind. 

Money, that was a popular one. Taeil lived a very comfortable life and he’d feel awful charging more than he felt necessary for his own efforts for basically stolen goods. 

Then there were favours – like influencing higher ups to act in his favour. But that clashed with Taeil’s morals.

And then there was bewitchment. A way to get into a human’s head for a vampire, making them do whatever they wanted to, basically stripping their free will, and you wouldn’t even notice. 

It had happened to him once, but Kun, the leader of his secretly favourite coven, the only one he’d consider his friends, had noticed and broken it. He had explained how to avoid getting bewitched again, which required you to basically avoid eye-contact with a vampire, because that opened the path into your head for them.

Overall, Taeil became pretty much a vampire expert over the three years he’d been doing this, and gained some nice new friends – but he hadn’t found the mystery saviour he was still wishing to thank.

Until that day in early June, when Ten, a member of Kun’s coven, asked him if he had some more blood to sell him, because they had someone new join their coven and were now using more.

Truth to be told, Taeil didn’t really have that much extra, but he was always willing to let someone else go dry to make sure they were well fed. Not to mention how recently there were so many murders in the streets that clearly spoke of vampire attacks, that all the covens were on the look-out for their own safety. 

So, he was waiting for Ten, a bag with a few bags and cool packs ready to find its new owner. 

A wild pattern of knocks announced Ten’s arrival. Taeil crossed his flat to the door in four big steps.

“Hi Taeil, I brought a friend.” Ten smiled and Taeil quickly checked down the hall to make sure Mrs Kwon wasn’t observing it again. She had reminded him one too many times, that homosexuality was a sin and he’d go to hell. Taeil wasn’t homosexual, though he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. And he also wasn’t religious and didn’t believe in hell. That’d probably make him go to hell twice in her eyes.

“Ah, okay, come in quickly!” Taeil ushered them inside. Ten passed him first, and then his much taller friend. Mrs Kwon was still nowhere in sight and Taeil closed the door in relief. He had explained to her that he was not sleeping with every handsome males that came to his flat, nor the beautiful females, he, in fact, didn’t sleep with anyone, but the concept of asexuality had not seemed to have stuck and she had reminded him of sin and hell again next time she saw.

“Hello, I’m Sicheng.” A dee voice introduced, and the sound seemed somewhat familiar, like an old, old memory Taeil hadn’t touched in decades. Taeil looked at Ten’s friend, properly looked, and felt his eyes get wider and wider in surprise. 

Long black hair, kept in a low ponytail, a young face, sharp eyes, and one pointed ear. 

It was him, the mysterious saviour, completely unchanged from how Taeil remembered him.

He let out a small yelp of delighted surprise and reached to shake the vampire’s hand.

“My name is Moon Taeil. It’s to terribly nice to meet you. I don’t know if you remember, but when I was little, you saved me from basically being killed. I’m in your debt, thank you very much!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading~  
> I kind of wanted to go into greater detail how exactly Taeil got the idea to sell blood in the first place and children are cute, so. I hope you enjoyed it~
> 
> [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


End file.
